7 Times Cars Had Futuristic Technology That Is Now Normal

One of the great things about automotive technology and engineering is that it is constantly evolving. When we sit in our car every morning on our way to work, we sometimes forget that, at one point or another, everything within it didn’t exist. Every feature was a groundbreaking discovery that changed the face of automotive engineering and made it slightly better. Some of the more helpful ones were windshield wipers and turn signals. Here are some of the ways vehicles have been transformed over the years. 

Futuristic Technology That Is Now Standard

Rochester RamJet Chevrolet Corvette

The Rochester RamJet Chevrolet Corvette was the first vehicle to have fuel injection added to its engine. Fuel injection involves injecting pressurized fuel into the engine. By doing this, it controls the fuel-to-air ratio more precisely, which results in better overall performance and using the vehicle’s fuel more efficiently. Before fuel injection, a carburetor was utilized, which wasn’t as efficient. Fuel injection had been attempted since 1872, but it wasn’t perfected until the 1957 Rochester Ramjet Chevrolet Corvette was produced. 

Turbo-Hydramatic Cadillac 60 Special

In America, many people do not like driving vehicles with a manual transmission, while in Europe, a higher percentage of drivers would choose manual transmission over automatic. To deal with this dislike, automatic transmission was developed and opened up driving to a whole new mass of people who initially couldn’t grasp or found manual transmission daunting. It was made commercially viable in 1940 when Cadillac released the Cadillac 60 Special. At the time, it was very jerky, but the smoothness of today’s automatic transmission would come in time. 

Imperial Auto-Pilot

Along with automatic transmission, another futuristic technology added to our vehicles was the cruise control feature. This feature allowed drivers to relax on long, boring highways or extended road trips. But unlike the automatic transmission, cruise control goes way back to 1788 with steam train engines, but at the time, they were not as technical as today and amounted to train drivers putting a brick on the train’s throttle. The first cruise control setting in a car was the 1958 Imperial. It followed the same train of thought and a simple device that held the accelerator down for long periods. This feature is now in every vehicle on the road, albeit a little more sophisticated. 

Mercedes Benz ESP

In 1995, Mercedes Benz released the S 600 Coupe Power and Performance, and within this vehicle was the industry-changing electronic stability control. Cars that came before it had powerful engines with no way to control them, so they ended up being way more than most drivers could handle. The electronic stability control system detects a loss of steering control, applies brakes when needed, and adds or subtracts power when required. It opened up the reality of driving performance vehicles for inexperienced automotive enthusiasts. 

Buick Riviera Graphic Control Center

Every modern car is equipped with a touchscreen, where passengers can access a range of information at their fingertips. You would not see a car without one now, but years ago, that just wasn’t the case. In 1986, Buick released the Riviera, which had a Graphic Control Center (GCC). It came as a 9-inch screen with a black-and-white screen. This system was not too dissimilar to the modern systems in today’s vehicles, as it contained climate control, stereo, and vehicle maintenance. But, it seems it was just too much change at the time.  Customers really disliked it. In 1989, Buick removed this futuristic technology again. 

Volkswagen Golf R32 DCT

You know the saying, one is good, two is better. Volkswagen obviously thought so, as they were the first to install a dual-clutch transmission into their 2003 Golf R32. The advantage of having a dual-clutch transmission is that the car has two clutches working together so that shifting between gears is more seamless, and there is a reduced loss of torque to the wheels. The economy of this vehicle was also better as it uses 20 percent less fuel. Now, it is standard in many cars on the road, but back in 2003, this was a game-changer, which is why Volkswagen Golfs have such a great reputation. 

Ford Mustang EcoBoost

Ford Mustang EcoBoost was not the first car to have a turbocharged power feature in their vehicle, but they are the first to redesign it so that it works better with modern engineering. The premise behind a turbocharger is that it forces air into the car’s engine, which allows more fuel to be injected, resulting in more power for the vehicle. This futuristic technology was first widely used in aircraft but expanded to cars. The initial problems with these engines were that they were bulky and had considerable lag. It wasn’t until 2009 that Ford debuted a vehicle with a worthy turbocharged engine. But in 2020, the Mustang was released with a 2.3-liter turbocharged i-4 with 330 horsepower. It was 20 more ponies than any other turbocharged vehicle produced.